The Cat's Meowfia
by ghostgirl19
Summary: Marinette finally achieves her dream of working at the famous Agreste fashion label. Life is relatively normal for her: wake up, go to work, design, reject Adrien, then go back home. However, everything changes when she meets Chat Noir. And nobody who has seen him has ever lived to tell the tale. Mafia AU, Reverse crush AU, No Miraculous AU
1. Chapter 1

**My inner Kermit won again…I decided to post my mafia au story. This is mostly a test to see how well it works out. If this gets a lot of support I'll continue it regularly. If not then updates will be delayed. For those wondering, I still plan to continue Cat's Eye one day, I promise.**

 **Chapter 1**

There is nothing quite like the feeling of hopelessness.

Truly, it is an…interesting feeling, indeed. How you feel that you're going nowhere in life, destined to be surrounded by cute and sugary pastries while everyone else around you is achieving their dreams.

There was definitely nothing like it.

As Marinette stood at the bakery counter, absentmindedly stirring a spoon in her tea, she found her mind wandering to thoughts of hopelessness. It wasn't her fault, when everyone around her was achieving what they desired most in life while she was stuck working at her parents' bakery.

Alya became a journalist at the most famous and prestigious newspaper in all of Paris. Nino was a popular DJ who got several requests a week to work in various clubs around the city. Rose and Juleka were happily married and running a cute flower shop down on Rue Pierre. Ivan and Mylene were married as well and running a rescue clinic for animals on the other side of the city.

Kim and Alix opened up one of the best gyms in Paris. If anyone wanted to work out, play any sport, and needed any type of equipment, then _Briseur Foncé_ was just the place for you. While they were not married, there were rumors of them being romantically involved. But no one dared to bring up such rumors to them in person. While they were nice and awesome people, they could still deliver a fearsome punch.

Max moved to America several years ago to better pursue his dream as a game developer. She was aware that he just released a new game around five months ago, but hasn't heard anything since.

Nathanael worked as an animator at a popular animation studio. He was behind the artwork of the current most popular children's television show in the country, _The Illustrator_. It was about a superhero who was able to draw anything and have it magically come to life to save the day. It motivated many children to get interested in art, and for that Nathanael became a symbol of inspiration and hope.

Chloe was still as snobby as ever, and as far as Marinette knew, Sabrina was still her unofficial indentured servant. She tried to not pay much attention, but it was kind of hard to ignore her childhood bully when her face was printed in every single tabloid in Paris due to her relationship with Jean LeBeau, the most eligible bachelor (aka the richest man) in the whole country. Like her, he was born into wealth, and as far as Marinette knew he was just as haughty as his girlfriend.

There were rumors that Chloe desperately tried to get together with Adrien Agreste, famous model and heir to the Agreste fashion company. It was a proven fact that they were childhood friends, but the rest is fuzzy from there. The story was that Chloe had always been attracted to him, yet he spurned her affections every chance he could get. He was apparently only interested in friendship, so she finally gave up on him and moved on.

Well, maybe Chloe wasn't living her greatest dream, but at least she was somewhat successful with her life. She would probably get married to Jean LeBeau and live happily ever after with her piles of money and a big, fat mansion to boot. Sabrina would most likely be taken in as a maid, and she would most likely be perfectly okay with that.

Which left Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the girl with big dreams for fashion design, the only failure of her class. True, she could make a decent living working at the bakery, but she wanted more.

A dejected sigh escaped past her lips. It must be nice to obtain some type of goal in life.

"Hey, I need some service over here!"

Startled, Marinette's head snapped up to meet the amused gaze of her best friend. Nino stood beside her, wearing a cheeky grin as his eyes sparkled with humor and friendliness.

"Hey, girl," Alya greeted with a giggle. "Your head stuck in the clouds again?"

She plastered a smile to her face, finally dropping the spoon in the tea. It was as stirred as it was ever going to get.

"I guess you could say that," she replied easily. Her sky blue eyes shifted over to look at her friend's companion. "Hey, Nino."

"Dudette," he acknowledged with a wink and a single finger gun, making her momentarily pause. Since when did he use finger guns? "How's it hanging?"

She shook it off. It was a common enough, silly hand gesture. "It's alright. What club are you entertaining this week?"

He immediately perked up at that in pride, prompting Alya to lovingly roll her eyes.

"Délire, only _the_ hottest club in Paris," he bragged, blowing on his knuckles to mime polishing them on his shirt. "It's going to be _lit_!"

Well, with Nino DJ'ing, it probably was.

"And I got an interview scheduled with Jagged Stone," Alya chimed, a triumphant smile spreading her lips. "He's the first celebrity I'm interviewing!"

"Awesome!" Marinette cheered, honestly happy with her friends' accomplishments. She may have been jealous a little, but her friendship and happiness for them far outweighed any negative emotion.

"But enough about us," Alya suddenly spoke, this time her face lit up with eagerness. "Did you hear back from _Agreste_ , yet?"

She shook her head, her smile from before quickly dropping.

"No, and I don't think I will, either."

She emailed the company last week, but still didn't receive any sort of reply back. It was fairly obvious that a job there just wasn't meant to be.

"If I can just get an interview," she breathed, her eyes already seeing the wondrous opportunities in store working for such an illustrious brand, "I'm sure they'll have something for me!"

Although, she could be just deluding herself. Her designs weren't _that_ impressive, after all. Not one fashion label seemed to think so, anyway.

"I know they would," Alya strongly agreed, her mood instantly turning sour upon hearing the state of her friend's dream. "Don't give up, girl. Your designs are amazing, only a blind person would think otherwise!"

"Wait, you want to work at _Agreste_?" Nino questioned curiously, making the girls stop what they were thinking to look at him.

"Um, yeah?" Marinette answered, not understanding why he asked the question so…weirdly. It wasn't asked in the normal way, like casually. No, it sounded like he had…an idea or something formulating in his mind.

Gradually, a smirk curled the edges of lips up. Marinette and Alya sent each other confused glances at the sight.

"I can get you an interview at _Agreste_ ," he declared boldly (and maybe just the tiniest bit smugly), causing their eyes to widen.

"How?" Marinette asked in disbelief. Nino was a popular DJ, but not a full-blown celebrity to possibly know Gabriel Agreste.

"Yeah, how?" Alya echoed.

"I know a guy," he replied cryptically before reaching into his jeans pocket and pulling out his cell phone.

…

"For the last time," he hissed, his teeth bared in an angry snarl, "who are your accomplices?"

The man gazed defiantly into his eyes. Although both eyes were almost swollen shut, his bottom lip cut and bleeding, his nose broken and bleeding as well, the man still refused to give up any information. He was stubborn and not an easy talker, which was liked by his father, but it didn't come in handy when they were on opposing sides.

"Fuck you," he spat, a glob of blood narrowly missing the blond.

He opened his mouth, ready to fire off another threat, when he felt the right side of his butt vibrate. He paused, drawing back to dig his cell phone out of his pocket, momentarily ignoring the traitor who looked puzzled by the distraction.

For the first time during the interrogation, a smile graced the young man's face.

"Take over for me, will you? I have to take this," he ordered the lower-ranking man standing off to the side of the dimly-lit basement.

The crony nodded with a wicked grin as he stalked closer to the man tied up in the chair, who now looked nervous with the realization that he wasn't going to be let off scot-free just because his interrogator had to take a phone call.

Once he was out of the room, he tapped on the screen to answer the call.

"Hey, Nino. What's up?" he answered, his lively tone betraying nothing of his prior activities.

"Hey, dude! Listen, I hate to ask you this, but I need a favor."

"Sure, what is it?" he asked curiously.

Being homeschooled his whole life, Adrien was never able to make any friends aside from Chloe, and casual acquaintances with other models. Due to his prestigious last name (and his family's secret), he was incredibly sheltered as a child and teenager. It was only two months ago that he was able to slip away undetected from his bodyguard to freely roam the city.

He would be okay. He had his 9mm pistol safely tucked away in his jacket. If anyone were to try anything, he would be able to get out unharmed.

Along his way he came across an arcade. He had always wanted to go to one, but his father never let him since he was so afraid of the possible danger of being in public.

So, seeing the opportunity, he made his way inside.

It was there that he met Nino Lahiffe, who was perhaps the only person that didn't care about his last name and treated him like any other guy. Well, a friendship sparked between them, and they ended up spending another hour at the arcade, then going to the movies.

He told him that he was a DJ for various clubs around Paris. He invited him to go to the one he would be working at the next day, but he had to decline the offer. If word got out that _the_ Adrien Agreste went to a place as sinful and scandalous as a _nightclub_ , he would never hear the end of it from his father.

But that didn't stop the two from hanging out together. His father at first protested the friendship, claiming that Nino was only after his money. But after a while of no favors being asked, Gabriel began to trust his new best friend.

Adrien knew that Nino wasn't manipulative or conniving, nor was he selfish. So he knew that this favor had to be pretty important.

"My friend has been trying to get an interview at _Agreste_ , but so far she hasn't gotten a response. Could you maybe pull a few strings for me? She's an awesome designer, dude, I swear that she will bring great things to the company."

That was it? All he wanted was an interview for his friend?

Hmm…

He could do it. It might take a little convincing to get his father to agree, but it could be done. His persuasion skills were some of the best, as he's been told.

"Sure, I can get her an interview," he replied just as brightly as ever. "What's her name?"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng," Nino answered slowly so he couldn't mishear.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng," he repeated, nodding in affirmation as the name imprinted itself in his mind. "Got it. Tell her she can come in tomorrow at one for the interview. Do you need anything else?"

"Nope, that would do it," Nino said, his serious tone switching to a relieved one. "Thanks, man, I owe you big time."

"No problem. I better get going now, there's something I have to finish." Just because he answered a phone call, didn't mean he was done with the bastard. Not at all. He just gave the man a break.

He cracked a grin at the unintended pun.

"Sure, I understand. Sorry for bothering you. See you whenever!"

He chuckled. "You didn't bother me, and yes, see you 'whenever'."

With that he pulled the phone away from his ear and tapped on the icon to end the call. After replacing the device back in his pocket he strolled back inside the interrogation room, a grin on his lips, only to be dismayed at the sight before him.

"You fucking killed him?!" he growled to the man he had left in charge. Currently, the traitor was limp and hunched over in the chair, his head bowed low. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was possibly dead.

"I didn't kill him, I swear!" Pierre claimed fearfully. "He's just unconscious."

He narrowed his eyes in suspicion before walking to the slumped man. He picked up the head and placed the pads of his index and middle fingers to Jacque's pulse point. It was faint, but beating all the same.

He sighed and took a step back, allowing Jacque's head to fall again.

"Well, I would rather have to wait for him to wake up to give me more information than have him be dead." He turned his head to look at Pierre, who gulped at the warning glare he received.

"For your sake he better wake up soon. I'm not a patient person."

Pierre meekly nodded. "Y-Yes, Chat Noir."

He said nothing as he casually opened his jacket to reveal the hidden pistol in its folds. He took it out, cocking it in Pierre's direction before aiming it to be level with the man's heart.

Pierre trembled, and Chat could swear he saw a bead of sweat drip from his forehead.

He chuckled and put the gun away. He always thought it was funny to give an occasional scare, but only to those who deserved it.

"And now, we wait," he murmured, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He was already feeling bored. "Father is going to be _very_ happy with this delay, I'm sure."

* * *

 **A/N: The user Totally Lucky helped me develop the idea of how Adrien and Nino meet. I was originally going to have them meet at the movies, but thought of an arcade at the last minute xD Still, she deserves credit for helping me :) Thanks, girl!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Glad you guys liked the first chapter :) I'm not sure when I'll update again though, but I hope you enjoy this (it includes smitten Adrien ;) )**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

This was it, her big break in her life. Today she would prove that she was an able designer, who had sketches and clothing ideas that would prove highly creative and valuable for the _Agreste_ brand. Today was her interview day, and she was determined to not screw it up.

Well, if she could get there on time. She had set an alarm on her phone in order to wake up with the perfect amount of time to get ready. However, it chose to try to screw her over instead and didn't go off at all.

Instead, she was woken up at 12:15 when her father dropped a large tray on the floor of the bakery, the action creating a loud noise that was enough to rouse her.

"Dammit," she cursed, slipping on a black pump while using her other hand to hold onto her vanity for balance. "Technology is supposed to help me, not make my life harder!"

Grumbling another curse, Marinette grabbed the other shoe to slide it on the other foot. Heaving a quick sigh, she walked to her working desk to grab her black purse and sketchbook. She also took her binder that housed the loose leaf designs she drew whenever her sketchbook wasn't nearby. She knew that one key design may be enough to land her a spot in the company.

Essentials in hand, she walked to the full-length body mirror next to her chaise to give her outfit the final once-over. Because it would practically be suicide to show up to a company that specialized in fashion while looking like a mess.

Most of her black hair was piled on top of her head in a loose bun, with two tendrils of hair left to frame her face. As for makeup, she covered her lips with a coat of nude lipstick and used a touch of mascara and eyeliner to make her blue eyes pop.

Finally, for her top she chose a red silk blouse and picked a black pencil skirt to match the boldness in color. Satisfied with her look, she nodded once before dashing off as fast as her heels would allow her to grab her phone and check the time.

12:42 p.m. She could make it, if she rushed.

After making sure she had everything, she raced downstairs and gave her parents a hasty good-bye before dodging several customers to make it out the door. She thought she heard a 'good luck' from the distance, but couldn't be too sure.

She maintained a fast walking pace the whole way through the Parisian streets, her heartrate steadily rising in nervousness combined with the new exercise. Taking out her phone, she noted that it was now 12:46.

Okay, no problem. She still had time. It was only about ten minutes away, she could still make it.

"Excuse me, excuse me!" she called out, trying as politely as possible to move past a number of people that were slowly getting in her way. Some of them were less than appreciative of her rush to get past them, but _they_ weren't on the verge of being late to an interview with _Agreste_ , now were they?

In a few minutes she managed to make it in front of the tall, imposing building of the design label of her dreams. While waiting to cross the street to get to it, another look at her phone revealed to her that it was now 12:53.

Marinette took a deep, calming breath before letting it out. She was going to make it, she still had a few minutes left. She needed to relax and catch her breath before she started to sweat. And the last thing she wanted was to meet her fashion idol while smelling of sweat and disappointment.

At long last, the green light of the crosswalk came on, indicating to the pedestrians that it was safe to cross. She hurried to the front of the gaggle of people, then used her newfound leadership to speed walk to the front doors of the _Agreste_ building.

When she got inside she almost ran to the receptionist's desk (she probably would've run if it wasn't for her heels), slapped her stuff on top of it and asked in heaving pants where Gabriel Agreste's office was.

The woman, a blonde, possibly 30-something, stared at her in bewilderment for a few seconds, most likely in shock about Marinette's borderline crazy arrival. It was probably a stark contrast to the cool, collected people she most likely saw on a regular basis.

But when she saw the urgency in the young woman's eyes, she cleared her throat and shifted back into business-mode.

"Do you have an appointment with Mr. Agreste?"

"I-I think so," Marinette stammered, honestly unsure whether or not this interview was official enough to be put into the system.

The receptionist gave her an unimpressed look.

"Name?"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

…

"You better be right about this woman, Adrien," Gabriel muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger after having taken off his glasses. "You know I hate entertaining less than adequate designers. Have you ever seen her work for yourself?"

Adrien smiled sheepishly and shook his head.

"No, but Nino recommended her to me, and Nino has a good taste in everything, not just music. Besides, there's nothing wrong with giving people a chance!"

Gabriel's glare told him that he completely disagreed with that statement.

"Come on, you owe me for tracking down the traitors before they could let more information slip," Adrien pressed, the corners of his lips tugging down into a frown. "Do you know how long it took to get who the accomplices were out of Jacque? And to only hunt down two more bastards on top of it? This is the least you can do for me."

"Only because you finished the job," his father replied coolly. "If you hadn't then I would've had you out of my office before you could finish saying, 'I was wondering'."

"Good thing I killed them then," Adrien remarked dryly, rolling his emerald eyes to the ceiling above his head.

"Yes, a good thing, indeed. Hopefully they'll serve as an example."

"Hopefully. Because staying up all night torturing and then killing traitors is doing horrors to my beauty sleep regimen," Adrien quipped sarcastically with an amused smirk.

"Mr. Agreste?"

Gabriel paused to press the button on the desktop intercom to answer his assistant, Nathalie.

"Yes?"

"A Miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng is here to see you."

Gabriel was barely able to bite back the agonized groan that threatened to escape his throat. His son had better be right about the talent in this woman.

"Send her in."

Adrien grinned as his father released the button on the intercom.

"I'm sure you won't regret it, Father."

He gave a non-committal hum in response, prompting Adrien to begin taking his leave. He wasn't needed in here anymore, after all. He had nothing to do with the interview process, well, except actually get Marinette the interview.

He stopped in front of the door, hand poised over the knob as he cast one more look to his father.

"And don't be too hard on her just because _you_ didn't approach her for the interview. Treat her the same as any other person trying to get a job here."

Gabriel rolled his dark blue eyes.

"You should know by now that I do not discriminate against anyone, Adrien."

"Just checking," Adrien replied with a mischievous grin as he opened the door-

-and crashed into the hurried female about to go through.

Marinette's sketchbook and binder fell to the floor, loose pages scattering everywhere to her rapidly growing mortification. Without even glancing up to see who the person she accidently bumped into was, she bent down in order to gather the dropped paper.

"I'm so sorry!" she apologized, trying as quickly as she could to grab all the pages. Curse her clumsiness, she knew it would strike at some point on quite possibly the most important day of her life. Along with that, she just ran into some unsuspecting, innocent civilian. Even worse, outside her possibly future boss's office. She hoped he wouldn't consider this enough grounds to reject her.

"I didn't mean to crash into you! I wasn't looking where I was going and…"

As she continued to ramble her apologies, Adrien slowly bent down to the ground in order to assist her, his eyes never straying from her face. In a daze, his hand blindly reached out to take the fallen sketchbook.

She was beautiful, most definitely the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Shiny, raven-colored hair was piled high on her head in a loose bun that he itched to take out and run his fingers through, wondering if he was right in his assumption on how soft her hair was. Her eyes were the warmest blue, they rivalled the heavens with their color. He wished they would look into his own eyes, so he could feel the warmth and fully appreciate their loveliness.

Her lips were full, forming a pout that looked like they was made for kissing. Her makeup was gentle enough to seem natural, and while it did enhance her beauty, he could tell that she was just as gorgeous with it as without it.

Her skin was pale and unblemished, it seemed smooth to the touch and he felt a desire to run his fingertips over her slender arms, up to her shoulders, and ghost over her collarbone. The milky column of her neck practically begged him to leave his mark, and his eyes lingered on the exact spot he longed to kiss.

The blouse and pencil skirt combination did wonders to her figure. Each curve was wonderfully, subtly shown with the outfit, not to mention that her clothing choices proved that she had good fashion sense.

 _This_ was Marinette Dupain-Cheng?

Adrien's breath hitched at the same time his mouth dried. His tongue darted out to wet his lips, still unable to take his eyes away from the currently frazzled beauty in front of him. He only blinked when he felt his eyes start to get dry and irritated.

It was only when she calmed down and managed to retrieve her items (including the held-out sketchbook) that she looked up and realized who she just unknowingly captivated.

"O-Oh my God!" she screeched in horror, a new red flush coloring her cheeks.

Adrien snapped out of his hazy thoughts at the sound of her terror, a disillusioned frown beginning to mar his handsome features. Did she already hate him or something? Of all the ways he imagined their first interaction to go, he didn't expect her to scream in fright.

"I-I'm so, so, so sorry! I should've looked where I was going, I should've knocked! I'm so sorry, I swear I didn't mean to run into you, I'm sorry!"

He blinked, confused on why she was suddenly so scared of him. He didn't say anything to trigger that kind of reaction, and he was positive he never met her in his life, so he couldn't have had a previously bad experience with her. So what was wrong?

Meanwhile, Marinette was having a mental breakdown. She just crashed into Adrien Agreste, aka the son of her idol aka the son of her possible future boss. Well, not anymore. She was never going to get hired now.

 _Say something, you idiot!_ Adrien mentally chided himself as more stuttered apologies flew out of her mouth.

"It-It's okay, really," he spoke, slowly as he tried to hold her gaze with his own to prove his sincerity. A corner of his mouth quirked up. "It's not a problem, not at all."

Marinette stilled, eyes locked on the hypnotizing green eyes in front of her.

"Really?" she asked unsurely, not wanting to get her hopes up.

"Really," he assured with a soft, lopsided grin.

A throat being cleared successfully distracted them. Marinette and Adrien both turned at the same time to see Gabriel sitting at his desk, an eyebrow raised in the air with the ever-present frown upon his lips.

"If you would like for the interview to start, Miss Dupain-Cheng…" he trailed off, giving her a pointed look.

"Oh! Of course, I'm sorry!" she apologized, starting to stand. "Excuse me, sir," she bid as she politely slipped past Adrien, through the doorway and into the office.

Adrien turned back to look at her, a smile that could only be described as stupid lighting up his face. His eyes practically twinkled as he continued to gaze at her in a trance.

Gabriel raised both eyebrows this time.

"Adrien? Is there something else you require?"

That was enough to snap him out of it.

"Ah-no, Father! I'll just be heading out now. I'll see you later."

He glanced back at the confused girl one last time before turning away with reddened cheeks from embarrassment, and closed the door behind him.

For a minute, Gabriel didn't say a single word, all thoughts of the interview were vanished from his mind.

Because he knew the look that Adrien had. He recognized it as the same one he himself had when he saw his late wife for the first time. And the blush on his son's face proved his theory.

Adrien had fallen in love with this girl sitting in front of him.

His head tilted as he scrutinized her, unintentionally making her squirm nervously in her chair.

She looked nice enough, and seemed to be so, if her quick apologies when she ran into his son were anything to go by. She looked young, probably around Adrien's age. Her outfit was well-put together, the bold red and black colors complementing each other rather nicely. He couldn't detect a hint of cruelty in her features, instead he only saw kindness.

Overall, she seemed like a woman suitable for his son, if his first impression of her was right. However, would she be willing to commit to the dangerous world his family was very much a part of?

Céline had been an angel when Gabriel first met her. He was afraid of tainting her with the mafia world, but by the time he revealed his secret, she told him that she loved him too much to let that bother her. Over time, sometimes she helped him, but never killed anyone in the process.

Perhaps this Marinette Dupain-Cheng would do something similar.

Now, if only she has the creative talent to get hired, it would be like killing two birds with one stone. He would have an up-and-coming designer waiting in the wings while at the same time his son would finally get married and have an heir.

It was a good plan, in his opinion.

"Uh, sir?" A soft voice murmured awkwardly, her blue eyes shifting from the side of the room to his face. "The interview…?"

"Oh, yes, please excuse me," he replied, having been pulled away from his mental musings. He cleared his throat and laced his fingers together on top of the desk.

"Let's begin."


End file.
